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A caller on a C-SPAN radio talk show accused Senator Cardin of dual loyalty to America and Israel given the senator’s Jewish faith. Photo: Cardin.senate.gov.

JNS.org – A caller on a C-SPAN radio talk show accused U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of dual loyalty to America and Israel given the senator’s Jewish faith.

“Mr. Cardin looks like a regular white guy, nice guy, whatever, but in actuality he’s a Jewish white guy,” a caller identified as “Eric from Georgia” said Wednesday during a segment about the Iran nuclear deal on the Washington Journal program. “If the public was informed of that by C-SPAN, I think they would take his comments differently.”

“Because this guy is Jewish, that means that he is concerned about Israel,” added the caller.

Cardin responded, “I’m normally pretty tolerant to people who ask questions, but I’m not to your assumption. I take great offense to that.”

“Our loyalty is to America. Our concerns are to America. Our religion is our personal business and should have nothing to do with an evaluation from anyone as to our objectivity on issues concerning America,” said Cardin, The Hill reported.

Another Jewish politician, Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), was subjected to a similar controversy in June when an NPR radio show host falsely claimed on the air that he holds Israeli citizenship.

“No, I do not have dual citizenship with Israel,” Sanders said at the time. “I’m an American. I don’t know where that question came from. I am an American citizen, and I have visited Israel on a couple of occasions. No, I’m an American citizen, period.”